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Franz Schubert: Impromptus Op. 90 - Sonata in B flat Major,

Centaur Records

$18.99 Jan 17, 2020

The Schubert Impromptus Op. 90 and Sonata in B-flat Major are two of the greatest of Schubert's piano works. Winner of major competitions, Alexander Kobrin gives magisterial performances of these great works. Called the "Van Cliburn of today" by the BBC, pianist Alexander Kobrin has placed himself at the forefront of today's performing musicians. His prize-winning performances have been praised for their brilliant technique, musicality, and emotional engagement with the audience. The New York Times has written that Mr. Kobrin was a "fastidious guide" to Schumann's "otherworldly visions, pointing out hunters, flowers, haunted corners and friendly bowers, all captured in richly characterized vignettes." "This was a performance that will be revered and remembered as a landmark of the regeneration of exceptional classical music in Central New York."-critic wrote after Mr. Kobrin's performance of Second Piano Concerto by Johannes Brahms with Syracuse Symphony in Syracuse, NY.

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Franz Schubert: Impromptus Op. 90 - Sonata in B flat Major,
Centaur Records Jan 2020
CD
$18.99

SCHUBERT: IMPROMPTUS D899 MOMENTS MUSICAUX D780

ERATO

$17.49 Nov 19, 2021

The programme for Alexandre Tharaud's first album of Schubert comprises the four Impromptus D 899 (op 90), the six Moments musicaux and, in Tharaud's own transcription for piano, four excerpts from the stage music for Rosamunde. When Tharaud performed the Impromptus at London's Wigmore Hall in 2014, The Guardian wrote: "He got to the heart of the beauties and abysses of this music."

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SCHUBERT: IMPROMPTUS D899 MOMENTS MUSICAUX D780
ERATO Nov 2021
CD
$17.49

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IMPROMPTU
CHESKY RECORDS Jul 2013
CD
~~$16.61~~ $16.60

Suite A major
Carpe Diem Oct 2019
CD
$20.99

SCHUBERT: THE IMPROMPTUS OPP. 90 & 142

WARNER CLASSICS

$18.49 Feb 27, 2026

Produced during the astonishingly fruitful year before the composer's death aged 31, the Impromptus are short, lyrical miniatures of contrasting mood and character which create a musical narrative whose imaginative reach transports the listener far beyond the 19th-century drawing room. They have been core components of Eric Lu's repertoire for several years, but the pianist decided to wait before recording them. "I have a real sense of a journey with these works, in particular with Op.90, having lived with them intensely in preparation, on stage and, finally, in the recording studio," he says. "For me, the Impromptus are some of the greatest jewels in the piano literature. They are magnificent, deep pieces of music, and the very essence of Schubert."

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SCHUBERT: THE IMPROMPTUS OPP. 90 & 142
WARNER CLASSICS Feb 2026
CD
$18.49

Mix & Match

Schubert, F.: 4 Impromptus / Piano Piece in C Major / Adagio
Berlin Classics Apr 2007
CD
$18.99

FAURÉ: Preludes, Op. 103 / Impromptus
Naxos Nov 1997
CD
$19.99

PIANO SONATAS 13 & 14: IMPROMPTUS OP 94
ALTO Jun 2010
CD
$11.01

Siprutini: Cello Sonatas, Op. 6 & 7

Urania Records

$32.99 Apr 05, 2024

Combined with the previous recording of Opus III and V, this publication completes the oeuvre of cello sonatas by Emanuel Siprutini. Born in a Jewish family, perhaps in Holland, he ar-rived in England following the “Jewish naturalization act” established in 1753 by King George II of England, and he settled in London as a wine merchant, concert performer and cello teacher, having among his students John Crosdill, the most famous British cellist of the eighteenth century. Leopold Mozart met Siprutini in 1764, during his stay in England. Struck by the cellist’s talent, he tried to convince him to con-vert to Catholicism, but Emanuel remained serenely Jewish. Between 1756 and 1775, he published four books of cello sonatas which the Mozarts certainly owned, as one might think by finding fragments and ideas in Wolfgang’s most beautiful works.

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Siprutini: Cello Sonatas, Op. 6 & 7
Urania Records Apr 2024
CD
$32.99

Schubert: Variations

Analekta

$20.99 Nov 21, 2025

Volume 11 of Mathieu Gaudet's complete Schubert piano sonatas cycle brings us the fascinating second book of Impromptus D. 935, including the immortal Theme and Variation in B flat major. The youthful Sonata no. 2 in C major D. 279 and the « Noble » Waltzes D. 969 round up this spectacular album, full of singing melodies, contrasting atmospheres and romantic drama.

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Schubert: Variations
Analekta Nov 2025
CD
$20.99

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Stanley: Voluntaries, Op. 5, 6 & 7

Brilliant Classics

$12.99 Nov 21, 2025

John Stanley was born in London on 17 January 1712. A precocious musician, by the age of nine he was playing the organ (probably as an occasional deputy) at All Hallows, Bread Street. When the titular organist there - the composer and harpsichordist William Babell, a former pupil of Handel - died on 23 September 1723, an eleven year-old Stanley was appointed in his place. At the age of 14 he was chosen as organist at St. Andrew's, Holborn and at the age of 17 became the youngest person ever to obtain the BMus degree from Oxford University. In 1734 he was appointed organist to the Society of the Inner Temple, a position he held until his death. As a musician whose primary responsibilities were liturgical, John Stanley was required to accompany the service music every Sunday, and also to improvise voluntaries at various points in the service. A voluntary was a piece improvised extemporaneously and, prior to the 19th century, in the Church of England there were two principal forms of voluntary. These were a First Voluntary - generally an introduction and a movement or two for solo stops such as the trumpet or cornet - placed between the psalms and the first lesson at Morning and Evening Prayer, and a Second Voluntary - generally an introduction and fugue - at the end of the service. John Stanley's primary responsibility in his sixty-three years as organist at these various churches, was to improvise a voluntary before the first lesson (comprising an introduction and an additional movement or two for the solo stops) and an introduction and fugue at the end of the service. Stanley's improvisations were reportedly so fine that on Sundays none other than Handel himself, who attended St. George's, Hanover Square, would sometimes leave church early and rush over to the Temple Church to hear Stanley's final voluntary. Most voluntaries were never written down as compositions, and very few voluntaries for organ were published in England before Stanley's Op.5 of 1748. But written-out voluntaries did serve two main purposes: first, they were often used for recital purposes, as for example when organists like Stanley played at the dedication of a new instrument; second, they were widely used as exercises for apprentices or organ students, or for church organists new to their roles. Some of the manuscript collections produced for this purpose have survived. One important collection of this kind is the so-called Southgate Manuscript, a collection of 64 voluntaries in the library of the Royal College of Organists in London. This seems to have been compiled around the year 1750 in order to instruct choristers of the Chapel Royal who were learning the organ. This manuscript contains several of the early organ works of John Stanley. - Recorded June 2024 in Rocca Massima, Italy - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Romeo Ciuffa, organ specification with stop list and a profile of the organist - John Stanley (1712-1786) was a prominent English composer, organist, and violinist of the 18th century. Blinded in an accident at the age of two, Stanley displayed prodigious musical talent from an early age. He studied under Maurice Greene and, by age 17, was appointed organist at All Hallows, Bread Street. He later held prestigious posts at the Temple Church and the Chapel Royal, where he succeeded William Boyce as Master of the King's Band of Musicians. - Among Stanley's most celebrated works are his three volumes of Organ Voluntaries, Op.5 through Op.7, published between 1748 and 1754. These voluntaries reflect both the elegance of the late Baroque style and a growing Classical influence. They were designed for performance during Anglican church services, typically as preludes, interludes, or postludes. The voluntaries are structured in multiple short movements and frequently feature contrasting textures, such as lyrical slow introductions followed by lively fugues or trumpet tunes. Stanley made imaginative use of the organ's stop combinations, often specifying solos for trumpet, cornet, or flute stops, adding variety and color. - Played by Pietro Delle Chiaie at the Inzoli-Bonizzi organ of the St Michael Archangel Church, Rocca Massima, Italy. He made a successful recording of the complete organ music by Carl Czerny for Brilliant Classics.

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Stanley: Voluntaries, Op. 5, 6 & 7
Brilliant Classics Nov 2025
CD
$12.99

Mix & Match

SCHUBERT

WARNER CLASSICS

$17.28 Feb 21, 2025

Aimi Kobayashi's new album is dedicated to Schubert, and features the Impromptus D935, Sonata in C minor D958, and Rondo in D major D.608, recorded with Kyohei Sorita (her husband). Gramophone: "Here is a fine, sensitive pianist with a strong technique and a solemn, intense stage presence".

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SCHUBERT
WARNER CLASSICS Feb 2025
CD
$17.28

Schubert: Impromptu In B Flat; Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 6 & 29

ICA Classics

$11.99 ~~$14.99~~ Save 20% Feb 28, 2012

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas: No. 6 in F; No. 29 in B?, “Hammerklavier.” SCHUBERT Impromptu in B?, D 935/3 • Wilhelm Backhaus (pn) • ICA 5055 (62:35) Live: Bonn 9/24/1959

This recital features Wilhelm Backhaus (1884–1969) near the end of his long career. The German pianist was known throughout his lifetime for his interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Mozart primarily, though it should not be forgotten that he was the first person ever to record the 24 Chopin etudes back in 1928. This recording remains a remarkable document of the ease of execution and the elegance of musical interpretation he shared with certain members of that generation of pianists. His technique was formidable in his heyday and—perhaps even more astonishing—it remained so to the very end of his career.

The opening of the “Hammerklavier” Sonata is a bit slow and heavy, but this soon gives way to a torrent of energy and an upsurge in tempo just a few bars later. Backhaus seems to want to show that each theme, each section, has its own character, which needs an adjustment in tempo to best bring that out. The pianist makes the most of the diverse musical sections in the sonata, from the fluid and graceful scalar passages in the first movement, which sound like shimmering silky waves made of delicate musical fabric in his hands, to the big chordal passages, which are powerful walls of sound that surround and engulf the listener. Backhaus has no qualms about enhancing the effect of certain of these latter passages by adding extra sonority in the bass parts—most often just doubling the octave. The slow movement, one of the most difficult and sublime in Beethoven’s oeuvre, is emotionally taxing to even the most seasoned performers. Backhaus intelligently chooses a flowing tempo: never so slow as to drag, but never too fast as to trivialize the music. The finale is taken at a brisk pace. There may be a few wrong notes here and there (albeit not very many), but his sense of pacing is thrilling: There is more than just a sense of danger; there is in his interpretations the conviction that regardless of the obstacles, he will triumph in the end. There is as much fire in this “Hammerklavier” as the best of them.

The other works on the recital are well played as well, the Schubert being particularly inspired. The gentle way in which the pianist caresses the instrument betrays the age in which he matured: This is elegant and lyrical, and Backhaus shows that though this composition is in the same key as Beethoven’s grandest essay for the piano, it is in character lightyears apart. The Beethoven F-Major Sonata is no minor work, and Backhaus gives it all the respect and love that he does the rest of the program. The opening movement is playful in that Haydnesque vein, the fugato finale lighthearted yet filled with Beethovenian determination and drive. The quirky middle movement is perhaps my favorite in the sonata, though. Backhaus revels in the mysterious opening phrases, lightening the path through the middle section, bringing the piece to a wistful end. It is three and a half minutes of pure bliss.

This is a remarkable recital, one that grows on you the more you listen to it—one captured in remarkable sound given its vintage. For a live recital, one should expect a few wrong notes here and there. Backhaus at 75 plays as few as I’ve ever heard in a riveting performance of the “Hammerklavier.” This is no lightweight rendering of the piece, either; this is one to remember. That said, I have a few other favorites: Richter, Gilels, Rudolf Serkin. The one that I come back to more than any other, though, is Peter Serkin (on Pro Arte). There is in his playing the soaring of spiritual heights along with a real sense of structural logic. The fugal finale is brisk, light, rhythmic—almost jazzy—in his hands. But Backhaus is a welcome addition to my collection. If you are a fan of the “Hammerklavier,” then this recording should be welcome to yours as well.

FANFARE: Scott Noriega

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Schubert: Impromptu In B Flat; Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 6 & 29
ICA Classics Feb 2012
CD
~~$14.99~~ $11.99

MASS IN A-MAJOR OP. 12
Audite Musikproduktion Jan 1993
CD
$20.99

SYMPHONIES NOS. 6 & 7

RCO LIVE HOLLAND

SACD

$25.99 Feb 24, 2015

Ever since the tenure of it's chief conductor Eduard van Beinum (1945-59), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has cherished one of the greatest Bruckner symphonic traditions in the world. With this release of Bruckner's Sixth and Seventh Symphonies, Mariss Janson's and his Amsterdam-based orchestra add a new chapter to the RCO's impressive performance and recording history of Bruckner's works.

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SYMPHONIES NOS. 6 & 7
RCO LIVE HOLLAND Feb 2015
SACD
$25.99

Chopin Edition

Brilliant Classics

$32.48 ~~$64.99~~ Save 50% Sep 22, 2023

This refreshed Chopin Edition from Brilliant Classics retains many of the definitive recordings from its predecessor of 2015, but boasting some exciting updates. The Concertos and piano concertante music are consolidated in a bright new cycle from Czechia, recorded last autumn by Siberian superstar Ekaterina Litvintseva and the KFPar under Mardirossian. Schmitt-Leonardy’s sonatas are joined by No. 1 – recorded late in 2015, and therefore just missing inclusion in the previous edition – bringing the complete cycle under his fingers. Alwin Bär’s own Scherzi performances are reunited with his iconic 1998 recording of the Barcarolle, Fantasy and Berceuse. The Études are featured in a stunning complete cycle recorded in 2014 by the phenomenal Chopinist and 2023 OPUS KLASSIK double-nominee Zlata Chochieva. Finally the complete Nocturnes are given over to another noted young Chopin interpreter: the 2018 Geza Anda winner Claire Huangci, who recorded the set two years earlier, in 2016.

REVIEW:

In 2015 Brilliant Classics issued a complete Chopin edition culled from both original productions and licensed recordings from other labels, and featuring a variety of musicians. The label’s revised 2023 Chopin edition retains roughly two-thirds of the contents, while substituting about six CDs worth of alternative performances. Is it “new and improved”? Mostly yes. Here is a rundown of the contents:

Discs 1 & 2: The 2015 Chopin box featured Eva Kupiec in the two concertos (amazingly conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski), with Abbey Simon in the other concerted works. Here we have less individual yet elegantly transparent performances of the entire Chopin piano/orchestra oeuvre with Ekaterina Litvintseva, supported by Vahan Mardirossian leading the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice.

Discs 3 & 4: The well-played chamber works with violinist Duccio Ceccanti, cellist Vittorio Ceccanti, and pianist Simone Gragnani are held over from 2015. So are Anna Haase’s slightly tremulous yet heartfelt Polish songs, superbly accompanied by Lucius Rühl.

Disc 5: Zlata Chochieva’s Etudes count among my top five recommendations in these works, wisely replacing Alessandro Deljavan’s mannered and overloaded readings.

Disc 6: As before, we have Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy’s intelligently paced and imaginatively detailed Ballades and Impromptus.

Disc 7: Folke Nauta’s broad and sonorous readings of the standard seven Polonaises are back, along with his rather underplayed Andante spianato e Grande polonaise.

Disc 8: The youthful Polonaises plus unimportant minor works like the Bourées, the Largo in E-flat, and the Fugue again turn up in Alessandra Ammaro’s splendid and mindfully virtuosic renditions.

Disc 9: The label replaces Fred Oldenburg’s good, workmanlike recording of the First sonata with a superior version from Wolfram Schmitt-Leonardy, while retaining the latter’s wonderful Second and Third sonatas. Recently I compared his recording of the Second sonata’s strange Finale next to those of Horowitz and Rubinstein, and actually found Schmitt-Leonardy’s creative inflections more engaging (sound clip).

Disc 10: In place of Ivan Moravec’s Four Scherzos (originally issued by Dorian), we have Alwin Bär’s scintillating 1998 cycle, coupled with his equally compelling Fantasy in F minor and Barcarolle, along with a rather fussy Berceuse.

Disc 11: A hodgepodge of performances. I raved in detail about Schmitt-Leonardy’s reference-worthy Op. 28 Preludes when they first came out. Paolo Giacometti shines in the C-sharp minor Prelude Op. 45, Oldenburg serves up the Three Ecossaises quite well, while Marian Mika plays two versions each of the Waltz in F minor Op. 70 No. 2 and the Funeral March Op. 72 No. 2 using alternative texts.

Discs 12 & 13: Rem Urasin’s Mazurka cycle evokes the high rhetoric and subjectivity of pianists like Jean-Marc Luisada and Andrew Rangell, minus their eccentricity. Just don’t expect lightness, humor, or snappy embellishments.

Discs 14 & 15: Claire Huangci’s rippling and graceful pianism in the Nocturnes differs from the seasoned drama of the Earl Wild cycle that appeared in the 2015 box. The Duo Pianistico di Firenze’s Rondo Op. 73 and Variations in D fill out CD 15.

Disc 16: Alessandro Deljavan works overtime trying to emulate the great Romantic pianists, yet his lurching phrasings and contrived voicings throughout the Waltzes often belabor the obvious and fail to ring true. The piano itself sounds poorly regulated, and doesn’t always hold its tuning.

Disc 17: Frank van de Laar basically picks up the slack, playing the Rondos, the Variations brilliantes Op. 12, the Bolero Op. 19, the Allegro de concert Op. 46, and the Tarantella Op. 43 with plenty of finesse and good taste, if not quite matching Vladimir Ashkenazy’s ebullience.

For its attractive price tag and overall consistency (have Rubinstein’s Waltzes and Mazurkas handy, though!) Brilliant Classics’ 2023 Chopin Edition holds its own alongside similar multi-artist complete Chopin collections on other labels featuring bigger names. It should appeal to general music lovers just getting started with Chopin’s music who wish to take a deep dive into the composer’s oeuvre.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

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Chopin Edition
Brilliant Classics Sep 2023
CD
~~$64.99~~ $32.48

Jean-Marie Leclair: Violin Concertos, Vol. 1 - Op. 7, Nos. 1

SOMM Recordings

$20.99 Oct 17, 2025

SOMM Recordings is delighted to build upon it's critically acclaimed discography with violinist, Adrian Butterfield, and the London Handel Players in a new collaboration featuring the Op. 7 set of six Violin Concertos by the French violinist-composer, Jean-Marie Leclair. The London Handel Players, praised by the New York Times for their "soulful depth" and "consummate skill and musicianship," have previously released five Handel discs with SOMM, along with recordings that celebrate Geminiani, J.S. Bach, and Telemann. The group's co-founder and director, period-instrument violinist Adrian Butterfield, has been described as "a marvel" by Gramophone for his recordings of Leclair's first three books of violin sonatas. The solo concerto emerged in Italy in the early 18th century through composers like Torelli, Albinoni and, particularly, Vivaldi. J.S. Bach acquired a copy of Vivaldi's popular set of twelve concertos, L'Estro Armonico, to transcribe and study, and he put his own stamp on concerto writing with works that are larger in scale, making use of more detailed contrapuntal development and a greater degree of harmonic variety. When Jean-Marie Leclair met an untimely death on 23 October, 1764 in a still-unsolved murder in Paris, he left behind a stellar reputation as the founder of the French violin school, along with a collection of works for violin that includes four volumes of solo violin sonatas and two volumes of violin concertos; his Op. 7, heard here, and Op. 10, to follow in the near future. These virtuosic and elegant violin concertos are something of an amalgam of the Italian concerto style and of Bach's formalistic innovations. Leclair was born in Lyon in 1697, and his dream was to become a solo violinist in his own country. But, at this time in France, violin playing was the province of country fiddlers and orchestral players, while the viol was the chosen instrument for the French upper classes. When the Italian violinist-composer, Arcangelo Corelli, published his iconic set of Op. 5 sonatas in 1700, no French violinist was equipped with the technique to perform them. Having spent a year studying dance and composition in the Italian city of Turin, Leclair moved to Paris, where he soon published his first set of twelve violin sonatas. For a couple of years, he commuted between Paris and Turin in order to study with a former student of Corelli's, and, over the course of two decades, published three more sets of sonatas, along with the two sets of violin concertos. The concertos are justly celebrated for their blend of French elegance and Italian virtuosity, reflecting not only Leclair's skill as a renowned violinist, but also his background, which drew on a variety of Europe's national styles. In the early 1910s, Holst became interested in astrology, and he conceived the idea of a suite for orchestra based on the solar system's individual planets. Originally, he composed The Planets on the piano, using the instrument in his newly-built, sound-proofed room in the music wing at St Paul's Girls School as well as the piano at his home in Thaxted. This version for four hands, two pianos was scored by two of his colleagues at St Paul's, Vally Lasker and Nora Day, who acted as amanuenses, because Holst suffered intermittently from painful neuritis in his right hand. Following the resounding success of the orchestrated version of The Planets, the original piano duet score was overlooked, though it was eventually published separately in 1949-51. In 1979, Holst's daughter, Imogen, reissued the complete two-piano arrangement in one volume, and Tessa Uys and Ben Schoeman perform this version here. Elgar's renown was such that, at the height of his fame, several established musicians were commissioned by publishers to make piano transcriptions of his orchestral music. This was no mean feat, given that Elgar's scores are scrupulously marked as to how he wanted every phrase-sometimes even every bar or note within that phrase-to be played. It was the composer, arranger, and conductor, Otto Singer II, who made the transcription for piano four-hands of Elgar's 1905 Introduction and Allegro, scored originally for solo string quartet and string orchestra. Singer's insight and skill are evident in techniques like transferring string double-stopping to spread keyboard chords, and his piano four-hands version is admirably true to Elgar's evolving contrapuntal and harmonic ideas. In Victorian England, the marriage of a tradesman's son to the daughter of a Major-General in the British Army, who was eight years his senior, might not have appeared a perfect match. Yet, the marriage of Edward Elgar and Caroline Alice Roberts turned out to be a love-match. In 1888, as a wedding present, Edward presented to Carice, as he called her, Salut d'Amour. This enduring melody has inspired numerous arrangements for widely varying instrumental combinations, including this one for piano duet.

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Jean-Marie Leclair: Violin Concertos, Vol. 1 - Op. 7, Nos. 1
SOMM Recordings Oct 2025
CD
$20.99

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Handel: Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 Nos. 7-12 / Forck, Ancient Music Academy Berlin

PENTATONE

SACD

$21.99 Jan 17, 2020

The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin continue their Handel trilogy with this recording of the last six concerti grossi of the composer’s Op. 6. Originally designed as attractive interludes to English oratorio performances, Handel’s concerti grossi soon gained fame as some of the most appealing orchestral music of the baroque era. With these pieces, written in London towards the end of his career, Handel paid tribute to the immensely popular concerti grossi of Corelli while simultaneously proving his mastery, incorporating all musical styles of his times into his work. The players of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, led by their concertmaster Bernhard Forck, demonstrate why many consider them the best baroque ensemble of today. The concerti grossi Op. 6 are concluded with this second instalment, and a recording of the concerti grossi Op. 3 will complete the trilogy. The ensemble’s first PENTATONE album, Cantata (2018) with countertenor Bejun Mehta, won a Diapason d’or. Their 2019 recording of the first six Op. 6 concerti grossi was hailed as “immaculately played … free of fashionable eccentricities” by The Sunday Times, while Klassik praised the ensemble’s playing as “eloquent”.

-----

REVIEW:

The group, by the standards of 2020, is large, but the ensemble is precise and quite impressive in the fugues and the other contrapuntal movements in which Handel attempted to outdo Corelli, his model in these works. These pieces are to Corelli what Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are to Vivaldi: dense yet brilliant takes of the form. These performances succeed on their own terms, and there is still plenty of life in this approach.

– AllMusicGuide.com (James Manheim)

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Handel: Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 Nos. 7-12 / Forck, Ancient Music Academy Berlin
PENTATONE Jan 2020
SACD
$21.99

Romanza - Music for Strings / Famà, Orfeo Orchestra

Brilliant Classics

$11.99 ~~$14.99~~ Save 20% Jul 12, 2024

This album features two compositions by Jean Sibelius from different moments in the Finnish musician's life. The Impromptu Op.5 for string ensemble is an early work from 1894, in which Sibelius uses some thematic materials from his solo piano impromptus Nos. 5 and 6 from the Op.5 set. The Romance in C Op.42 (1903) was composed during a difficult phase in the composer's life caused by excessive alcohol consumption, which prompted him to leave Helsinki and move with his wife near to Lake Tuusula, where he could dedicate himself to composition far from the temptations of the Finnish capital. The piece is divided into short sections in which the melodic ideas arise from fragments of the octatonic, or diminished, scale of alternating whole and half steps supported by dissonant harmonies that add further tonal instability. Samuel Barber's typically inspired melodic vein emerges from the very beginning in his Serenade Op.1 for String Quartet or String Orchestra, dating from 1928. Featuring chromaticism's and dissonant passages, a duality is established between a first, rhythmic and impetuous thematic idea and a lyrical melody. The final movement brings greater serenity and joy through the choice of a major mode and the adoption of a graceful and leaping theme whose fragments pass in counterpoint between one voice and another. When Benjamin Britten composed his Simple Symphony Op.4 he was just 20 years old, and he describes the idea in an introduction to the score: 'This "Simple Symphony" is entirely based on material from works which the composer wrote between the ages of nine and twelve [.]. Although the development of these themes is in many places quite new, there are large stretches of the work which are taken bodily from the early pieces - save for the re-scoring for strings'. In effect, Britten extrapolates eight themes from his juvenile compositional production, associates two of them with each movement and creates a structural mix between the four movements of a Classical symphony, the dances of the Baroque suite and popular folklore. Da pacem Domine is a Gregorian style piece composed by Arvo Pärt in 2004 to commemorate the victims of the Madrid terrorist attacks on trains, which killed 192 people. Pärt first composed a version for four voices on the text of a Latin prayer. That atmosphere of contemplation is preserved in his subsequent edition for chamber orchestra. The modal composition, in D Dorian, conveys the feeling of a search for calmness, a request from man to God for peace in the wake of such a tragedy. Scattered appearances of B flat and the leading tone (C sharp) mitigate and add a piquancy to the modal atmosphere.

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Romanza - Music for Strings / Famà, Orfeo Orchestra
Brilliant Classics Jul 2024
CD
~~$14.99~~ $11.99

Schumann: Piano Works / Dénes Várjon
Naxos Jan 1995
CD
$19.99

The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol. 1

Signum Classics

$19.99 Mar 27, 2026

This first volume of The Complete Alkan Organ Works presents Joseph Nolan's recording of Charles-Valentin Alkan's major works for organ and pedal-piano, performed on the restored Stahlhuth-Jann organ of St Martin's Church, Dudelange. The release includes the 11 Grands Préludes and Handel transcription Op. 66, the Petits Préludes sur les huit gammes du plainchant, and the Impromptu on Luther's "Ein feste Burg", Op. 69. The booklet outlines Alkan's background, his distinctive position in 19th-century French music, and the technical demands of these rarely recorded pieces. It also documents the instrument's history and Nolan's long-term commitment to the project.

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The Complete Alkan Organ Works, Vol. 1
Signum Classics Mar 2026
CD
$19.99

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A Moment in Time

PENTATONE

$19.99 Feb 20, 2026

Pianist Christian Blackshaw presents A Moment in Time, an intimate exploration of Franz Schubert's late masterworks. The album features the Four Impromptus, D. 899, written in 1827, in which Schubert transforms the simple impromptu into "a harmonically connected cycle of unparalleled beauty." From the dramatic intensity of the first to the serene beauty of the third and the triumph over darkness in the fourth, Blackshaw reveals the depth, subtlety, and emotional brilliance of Schubert's music. The album also presents the Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major, D. 960, one of Schubert's last major works for solo piano, composed during spring and autumn of 1828. It's movements traverse hope, despair, and luminous introspection, culminating in a finale of quiet triumph. For Blackshaw, these performances are a personal reflection - a snapshot in time of both Schubert's genius and his own lifelong engagement with these works.

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A Moment in Time
PENTATONE Feb 2026
CD
$19.99

Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5, 7 & En Saga / Elder

Halle

$20.99 Apr 08, 2016

This exhilarating album contains stunning live symphonic performances of works by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). Included in this recording are his Symphony No. 5 in E Flat Major, Op. 82, Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 105, and En Saga, Op. 9.

“...raw, massive, glacial, thrilling. Elder and the Halle have a strong track record in this repertoire.” - The Observer

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Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5, 7 & En Saga / Elder
Halle Apr 2016
CD
$20.99

Small Treasures

Avie Records

$19.99 Oct 24, 2025

Dvorak stated elsewhere that he had always remained a simple Bohemian folk musician at heart. Born in 1841, the son of a butcher, he grew up in the countryside. He always heard Bohemian folk tunes, probably even in his mother's womb. Folk music was clearly part of Dvorak's DNA, and a Slavic folklore tone permeates the two works on this CD. 0028948677955 CAVM4867795.2 45383021 .00 17.99 .19 CAVI-MUSIC COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/31/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/27/4445227-3422550.jpg 3 1 N BALLESTRA,JEAN-LUC CARRARA: VOCI DA HEBRON Cristian Carrara is one of the most original Italian composers of his generation. The opera Voci da Hebron ('Voices from Hebron') is set during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Carrara's expressive depiction of this scenario is one in which fear, anger and incomprehension sit side-by-side with the need for communication, at a time when dialogue is difficult and peace is, at times, a mirage. This land that is home to grief and misunderstanding is also a place in which love can survive and ultimately flourish. 730099060370 NXS8660603.2 45383519 .00 19.99 .21 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/10/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/00/4445400-3422659.jpg 15 1 N TETZLAFF,CHRISTIAN ELGAR & ADES: VN CONS Star-violinist Christian Tetzlaff, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor John Storgards present in this album two major British violin concertos written between a century, in 1910 and 2005. Elgar's passionate violin concerto, completed in 1910, is a classical-romantic violin concerto in three movements. This huge and highly emotional work was in the wake of modernism neglected for several decades before entering into standard concerto repertoire. Here Christian Tetzlaff follows the model of the early recordings of Elgar's concerto with substantially quicker tempos compared to most modern recordings, and having a great influence on the impact of the piece. Ades' violin concerto 'Concentric Paths', is already a modern classic and no doubt one of the most important concertos written during this century. With it's very demanding violin part the work has all the elements of a true concerto, allowing the soloist to sing with his instrument. The beauty of this music lies that everything is written so clearly. 761195148020 OND1480.2 45383533 .00 18.99 .27 ONDINE COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/03/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/45/4445745-3422683.jpg 79 1 N LEE,WARREN GOUNOD: PNO WORKS During his time in Italy and later in Leipzig, Charles Gounod was drawn by the balance of sonic beauty and proportion to be found in the music of Palestrina and J.S. Bach. He developed an innate desire for simple directness as can be heard in the excerpt from the Messe solennelle de Sainte Cecile and the Meditation sur le premier Prelude de J.S. Bach, now better known as Ave Maria. Gounod's talents for melody and mood painting are demonstrated in his Romances sans paroles, while his sense of wit can be heard in the famous Marche fune'bre d'une marionnette. 747313453474 NXS8574534.2 45383472 .00 19.99 .16 NAXOS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL ORCHESTRAL & SYMPHONIC 10/10/2025 https://mediacdn.aent-m.com/prod-img/500/77/4446477-3422665.jpg 10 1 N BRIGGS,SARAH SMALL TREASURES In her first solo recording for AVIE in 2019, Sarah Beth Briggs' performances of music by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms were described as 81 minutes of pianistic Heaven" by International Piano Magazine. In her latest offering, Small Treasures, Sarah returns to two of those composers' greatest sets of miniatures: Schumann's piano cycle Waldszenen and Brahms's 4 Klavierstu¨cke, Op.119, his final statement for solo piano. Alongside these, Sarah sets Schumann's much loved Arabeske from earlier in his composing career and the delightfully fleeting Impromptu by his wife Clara, together with her 4 Pie'ces fugitives, much lauded in her lifetime. The remaining 'Treasures' transport the listener to 20th-century France, comparing works by two members of Paris's composing circle 'Les Six' - Francis Poulenc's evocative 3 Novelettes (written across a 30-year time span) and Germaine Tailleferre's Sicilienne. As an encore, Sarah - a former International Mozart Competition winner - ends with a tiny gem by Wolfgang Amadeus: his 1789 Kleine Gigue in G in which light-hearted playfulness mingles with forward-looking chromaticism, miraculously seeming to find common ground with all of the works from the subsequent two centuries included on Small Treasures.

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Small Treasures
Avie Records Oct 2025
CD
$19.99

Mix & Match

Marguerite Long, Vol. 1 - Fauré, d'Indy

APR

$21.99 Mar 18, 2022

Long’s 1940 recording with Jacques Thibaud, Maurice Vieux and Pierre Fournier is matchless in terms of ardor and urgency, one of the major chamber music recordings of the era.

Undoubtedly the foremost French female pianist of the 20th century, Marguerite Long (1874–1966) prided herself on her personal friendships with some of the foremost composers of her day – Debussy, Fauré and Ravel. She championed their works, premiering, amongst other things, Ravel’s G major piano concerto, and was to write books on the interpretation of each of them. This addition to our continuing French Piano School series is the first of two APR volumes, together containing her complete recordings of French repertoire, and of honorary Frenchman, Chopin.

REVIEW:

French music scholar Roger Nichols does the honors in the booklet essay, with laudable impartiality, for the first volume in APR’s ‘The French Piano School’ series focusing on the legendary pianist and teacher Maguerite Long. This collection is mostly devoted to music by Gabriel Fauré, including the exquisite Nocturne No 6 in D flat major, of which Long herself writes: ‘[Fauré] slides imperceptibly from one key to another through nuances of colour that an impressionist painter would envy.’

Long played the Sixth Barcarolle to Fauré himself, and two recordings of the piece are included as part of APR’s program, the earliest and gentler of the two from 1937, the more emphatic version dating from 20 years later. Likewise in the case of two versions of the Second Impromptu, this time from 1933 and 1957 again, though miraculously there’s very little to choose between them. Two versions of the Ballade in its orchestrated version vary principally in the way they’re recorded, in a relatively dry acoustic for the 1930 recording (under Philippe Gaubert), then with greater warmth 20 years later, where between them André Cluytens and Long stretch the timing by roughly a minute. Still, the crystalline tone of the earlier version holds a special appeal.

Then there are the two piano quartets, Op 15 in C minor with the Pasquier Trio, recorded in 1956, nimble and sensitive, though my own preference would be for the sweeter, edgier version by Robert Casadesus and members of the Calvet Quartet in 1935 (currently out on Scribendum). Turn then to the more tragic Op 45 in G minor, and Long’s 1940 recording with Jacques Thibaud, Maurice Vieux and Pierre Fournier is matchless in terms of ardor and urgency, one of the major chamber music recordings of the era.

Also included is Vincent d’Indy’s colorful Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français (Symphonie cévenole), brilliantly played by Long and expertly conducted by Paul Paray in 1934 – fine sounding, too, given its age. A truly excellent release, superbly transferred.

-- Gramophone

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Marguerite Long, Vol. 1 - Fauré, d'Indy
APR Mar 2022
CD
$21.99